Related papers: The Braids on your Blanket

This is a review article on the Bennequin-Birman-Menasco machinery for studying embedded incompressible surfaces in 3-space via their `braid foliations'. Two cases are investigated: case (1) The surface has non-empty boundary; the boundary…

In the 1920's Artin defined the braid group in an attempt to understand knots in a more algebraic setting. A braid is a certain arrangement of strings in three-dimensional space. It is a celebrated theorem of Alexander that every knot is…

We discuss how to apply work of L. Rudolph to braid conjugacy class invariants to obtain potentially effective obstructions to a slice knot being ribbon. We then apply these ideas to a family of braid conjugacy class invariants coming from…

Given a knot, we develop methods for finding the braid representative that minimizes the number of simple walks. Such braids lead to an efficient method for computing the colored Jones polynomial of $K$, following an approach developed by…

Twisted knot theory, introduced by M.O. Bourgoin, is a generalization of virtual knot theory. It naturally yields the notion of a twisted braid, which is closely related to the notion of a virtual braid due to Kauffman. In this paper, we…

We describe a series of complexes that relate to the braid groups as the matching complexes relate to the symmetric groups. A modified construction applies as well to other complexes based on edge sets in graphs. We show that our…

A polynomial is presented that models a topological knot in a unique manner. It distinguishes all types of knots including the orientation and has a group theory interpretation. The topologies may be labeled via a number, which upon a base…

We consider the problem of counting the number of possible sets of rankings (called ranking patterns) generated by unfolding models of codimension one. We express the ranking patterns as slices of the braid arrangement and show that all…

This manuscript introduces a new framework for the study of knots by exploring the neighborhood of knot embeddings in the space of simple open and closed curves in 3-space. The latter gives rise to a knotoid spectrum, which determines the…

We define invariants of braids rather than invariants of conjugacy classes of braids. For any pure three-braid we give effective upper and lower bounds for these invariants. This is done in terms of a natural syllable decomposition of the…

Finite type invariants (also known as Vassiliev invariants) of pure braids are considered from a group-theoretic point of view. New results include a construction of a universal invariant with integer coefficients based on the Magnus…

We give a monoidal presentation of Coxeter and braid 2-groups, in terms of decorated planar graphs. This presentation extends the Coxeter presentation. We deduce a simple criterion for a Coxeter group or braid group to act on a category.

The study of knots and links from a probabilistic viewpoint provides insight into the behavior of "typical" knots, and opens avenues for new constructions of knots and other topological objects with interesting properties. The knotting of…

We provide a characterization for multitwists satisfying the braid relation in the mapping class group of an orientable surface.

Virtual knot theory has experienced a lot of nice features that did not appear in classical knot theory, e.g., parity and picture-valued invariants. In the present paper we use virtual knot theory effects to construct new representations of…

In this paper we define and present a simple combinatorial formula for a 3-variable Laurent polynomial invariant of conjugacy classes in Artin braid group $B_m$. We show that this Laurent polynomial satisfies the Conway skein relation and…

Every knot has a plat projection, obtained by closing up a braid with bridges. The plat projection is determined by the number of strands and the number of rows of twist regions in the braid, and an integer number of crossings in each twist…

We describe the fundamental groups of ordered and unordered k point sets in complex projective space of dimension n generating a projective subspace of dimension i. We apply these to study connectivity of more complicated configurations of…

Similar pictures appear in various branches of mathematics. Sometimes this similarity gives rise to deep theorems. Mentioning such a similarity between hexagonal tilings, cubes in 3-space, configurations of lines and braid groups, we prove…

This paper defines a new invariant of virtual knots and links that we call the extended bracket polynomial, and denote by <<K>> for a virtual knot or link K. This invariant is a state summation over bracket states of the oriented diagram…